My mom is waiting for treatment, and you're summoning me to be a hero?

Hearing the words of the deity, the people under the ancient tree held their breath to a minimum.

They didn't understand the full meaning of the sentence, but they understood the two most crucial words.

Come back home.

Lin Mo wanted to go home, but the gods wouldn't allow it.

This is beyond the scope of their right to interfere.

Lin Mo remained silent for a while before speaking.

His voice remained calm, so calm that the demigods present felt as if he were chatting with a neighbor.

"Logically speaking, you should be the one who most wants me to reach demigod status, so that you can refine me."

Upon hearing this, the people under the ancient tree raised their eyebrows slightly.

Dracula spoke instinctively.

"What do you mean? Refinement?"

Lin Mo looked at Gao Yang, who was still standing on the high place, and a cold smile appeared on his lips.

"Isn't it obvious? He took the demigod to the God Realm to refine him and increase his own strength."

"In other words, the battle between the hero and the demon king was a complete lie."

Ailin's aged voice echoed beneath the ancient tree. He didn't look at Gao Yang, but rather at the Sun Bow in his hand.

The lava patterns on the bow, which had flowed for three thousand years, suddenly became incredibly dazzling at this moment.

He felt his hands trembling.

Dracula remained silent for a long time, then suddenly laughed.

The laughter lacked his usual composure and elegance; it was hoarse and grating.

"So there is no ascension at all. The so-called ascension to the God Realm is just going to your death. We old folks have been afraid of death for thousands of years, and as a result, we are all scrambling to squeeze onto the road to death."

Sager slowly closed his eyes, the wrinkles on his face appearing particularly deep at that moment.

He spoke in a hoarse voice, a eulogy unique to the orcs, used to commemorate the spirits of their ancestors who had been "guided" to the realm of the gods.

The most powerful shamans and the bravest warriors were received by the gods in the final moments of their lives, and their people cheered, believing that they had gained the highest honor.

It turns out they were refined.

They were refined as raw materials by the god they had worshipped their whole lives.

The demigods under the ancient tree had expressions of horror, anger, confusion, and lingering fear on their faces.

If what Lin Mo said is true, then the "reward" for them to kill Lin Mo tonight is to be ascended, which means to be refined.

The "glory" they desperately sought was essentially just delivering takeout to the gods.

Lin Mo, whom they regarded as a demon king, was the one who had been stopping them from their deaths.

Gao Yang stood in the very center of the golden pillar of light, looking down at Lin Mo. He did not refute.

"You're right."

His voice was as calm as ever, as if he were confirming an objective fact.

"That's also why I can't let you become a demigod."

As soon as he finished speaking, he stepped out of the golden pillar of light, his white robe trailing in the air, and with each step he took, a golden lotus of light bloomed beneath his feet.

He spoke as he walked, his tone as indifferent as a teacher giving a lesson to a student.

"You misspoke about one thing. It's not 'refining,' it's 'extracting.' I will extract the power of the laws from those demigod heroes..."

He stopped in front of Lin Mo.

The two were less than three steps apart. One was a white-robed deity, and the other was a black-robed demon king. They stood face to face under the ancient tree of life that had lived for tens of thousands of years, on the grass covered with dragon blood.

"As for you."

Gao Yang looked at Lin Mo, and Lin Mo's silhouette was reflected in his eyes, which were like stars in the sea.

"The laws you possess are too weak. The laws of slaughter, the laws of life, and those inferior laws plundered from demigods... these laws are so weak that I have no interest in extracting them."

He said this without a hint of sarcasm; he was simply stating a fact.

Because what he said was true. To him, the power of laws that all demigods on the continent pursued throughout their lives were merely one of the criteria he used to select resources.

"You were able to grow to this level in less than three months because of your unwavering desire to go home, but if you truly reached the level of a demigod..."

He paused, and a faint, complex light flashed in his two starry eyes.

"If you really go home, you will lose motivation. A person who loses motivation will no longer grow. A person who no longer grows is not worth my time."

Lin Mo frowned.

He didn't refute it because he knew Gao Yang was right. All his motivation to become stronger came from going home to see his mother. If he achieved that goal, would he really continue to become stronger?

Maybe yes, maybe no, but Gao Yang was unwilling to take the risk.

Gao Yang raised his right hand and gently drew his index finger across the night sky.

The movement was as casual as brushing aside a tree branch blocking the way with a fingertip.

But where his fingertips touched, space itself was torn open.

The opening began to spread from directly below the crack in the sky, slowly opening to both sides, like a giant eye opening.

The rift is a space where colorful energies intertwine.

Countless auras of laws burst forth, but no one could discern their exact form.

Lin Mo stared at that space.

"This is……"

"Before I came into this world, there were many gods who each possessed different laws, the purest laws, but they were unwilling to give them to me."

Gao Yang's voice remained calm.

"So I imprisoned them."

The words came out of his mouth so casually, as if he were saying, "I moved some old furniture into the attic."

The demigods under the ancient tree felt their knees go weak.

Did many gods once exist in this world?

Are those gods stronger, more ancient, and purer than Gao Yang?

And Gao Yang imprisoned them all?

Did he imprison all the gods by himself?

Gao Yang ignored their reactions and slowly rose into the air.

His white robes unfurled in the night wind, and a giant golden lotus of light rose from beneath his feet, supporting his body.

He opened his arms and announced in a voice that could be heard throughout the entire continent.

"Anyone can enter and obtain the power of the laws."

His voice echoed across the entire continent, from the Elf Forest to the Dragon Realm, from the Dragon Realm to the Wasteland, reaching the ears of every city, every village, and every person.

All the church bells rang simultaneously, all the holy light crosses lit up at the same time, and all the dormant law resonators were activated at the same moment.

At that moment, the entire continent heard the divine pronouncement.

That space that imprisoned the gods, that gate leading to the origin of the laws, is now open to everyone.

"Go, Lin Mo."

Gao Yang lowered his head, and those eyes of the starry sea looked at Lin Mo one last time.

"You and I are the same kind of people. Go inside and become stronger, become significant enough for me to extract the laws within you. Until then—I will not let you go home."

Lin Mo clenched his fists.

His knuckles cracked, and the hilt of the black sword hummed faintly as he gripped it tightly.

Gao Yang saw his clenched fist and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

He was very satisfied with Lin Mo's reaction.

Gao Yang turned around, his white robe drawing an arc in the air, preparing to leave.

You said something wrong.

Lin Mo suddenly spoke.

Gao Yang stopped walking without turning around.

"You and I are not the same kind of people."

Lin Mo's voice wasn't loud, but every word was like a nail driven into the ears of everyone present.

"Because my parents are still alive, but your sister is dead."

Gao Yang's shoulders stiffened for a moment.

It wasn't a slight tremor, it was stiffness... the kind of stiffness where every muscle in the body lost its ability to relax at the same moment.

The air beneath the ancient tree solidified at that moment.

No one dared to breathe, no one dared to move, and no one even dared to blink.

Dracula's blood stopped flowing, Sag's totem patterns completely disappeared, and a new crack appeared on the rock armor of the Stone-Skinned demigod.

What did they hear?

Is Lin Mo reopening the wounds of the gods?

In front of the gods, Lin Mo said that the gods' sister was dead.

Gao Yang turned around.

A storm of golden runes surged within the twin seas of stars.

His face remained calm, but his fingers clenched and unclenched repeatedly in the air.

His usual composure and indifference were almost shattered by those words.

He stared intently at Lin Mo, his lips moved slightly, but no sound came out.

He was holding back.

Lin Mo knew he was holding back because he couldn't kill himself here.

If Lin Mo is killed, all those words will have been spoken in vain, and the gate to the laws will have been opened for nothing.

He waited for who knows how long before Lin Mo appeared, and he couldn't bear to kill him.

"You're right, but I still have a chance to see my sister, while you'll never have the chance to go home."

Gao Yang's voice remained calm, but every word seemed to be squeezed out from the depths of his throat.

He left behind a final message and then disappeared.